User blog comment:Dewface/Randomness/@comment-2006360-20101026200756/@comment-2006360-20101026202136

The Allegory of the Cave: Part Three
He will then proceed to argue that this is he who gives the season and the years, and is the guardian of all that is in the visible world, and in a certain way the cause of all things which he and his fellows have been accustomed to behold. And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the cave and his fellow prisoners, do you not suppose that he would felicitate himself on the charge, and pity them? And if they were in the habit of conferring the honours among themselves on those who were quickest to observe the passing shadows and to remark which of them went before, and which followed after, and which were together, and who were therefore able to draw conclusions as to the future, do you think that he would care for such honours and glories, or envy the possessors of them? Imagine once more, such a one coming suddenly out of the sun to be replaced in his old situation. Would he not be certain to have his eyes full of darkness? And if there were a contest, and he had to compete in measuring the shadows with the prisoners who had never moved out of the cave, while his sight was still weak, and before his eyes ahd become steady and the time which would be needed to acquire this sight considerable, would he not be ridiculous? This entire allegory, I said, you may now append, to the previous argument; the prison cave is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the sould into the intellectual world according to my poor belief, which, at your desire, I have expressed whether rightly or wrongly God knows. But, whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort. And, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual; and that this is the power upon which he who would act rationally, either in public or private life must have his eye fixed.